Grants and schemes for first home buyers worth $50K-plus

For first home buyers, there’s a range of grants, incentives and programs that could help you into your own home sooner than later.

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Sarah Megginson

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The first hurdle to clear is saving a home loan deposit. The median price for a home in regional Australia is around $600,000 and between $700,000 and $1 million-plus in our capital cities.

To save a 20% deposit, which banks would prefer, you'll need to squirrel away 6 figures' in savings. Unless…

  • You qualify for the federal First Home Super Saver Scheme, which helps you save more towards a deposit using tax breaks. Essentially, you pay less tax and redeploy those savings into your home deposit.
  • There's also the First Home Guarantee (formerly the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme). This can help eligible first-time buyers nationally buy with a deposit as low as just 5%, if you have the income to support the larger loan size. On a $700,000 purchase price, this means a deposit of $35,000.
  • Lastly, you could co-buy with the government using the Help to Buy scheme. Yes, it owns 30–40% of your home, but it means you only have a mortgage worth 60–70% of the purchase price, less a deposit of just 2%. On a $700,000 purchase price of an established home, with the government owning 30%, this means a deposit of $14,000, a mortgage of $476,000 and monthly repayments of around $2,850.

Assuming you have your deposit sorted and you've looked into the above opportunities to get a leg up, what is available for you in each state?

NSW

  • $10,000 when building a new home under the First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) scheme. The value of the property must be $600,000 or under, or $750,000 for a house-and-land package.
  • The First Home Buyers Assistance scheme provides first-time buyers in NSW with stamp duty exemptions, which could save you tens of thousands of dollars. You'll get:
    • A full exemption when purchasing a new or existing home up to $800,000.
    • A discount when purchasing between $800,001 and $1 million.
    • If you buy vacant land under $350,000, you'll pay no stamp duty. You'll receive a discount if it's between $350,000 and $450,000.

VICTORIA

  • $10,000 First Home Owner Grant is available to eligible applicants buying or building a new home valued at up to $750,000.
  • Victoria's stamp duty discounts are available up to $750,000. First home buyers purchasing a new or established home valued below $600,000 will be exempt from paying stamp duty altogether, while buyers of homes priced between $600,001 and $750,000 are eligible for a stamp duty concession, applied on a sliding scale.

QUEENSLAND

  • The Queensland first home owner grant now offers a generous $30,000 to first-time owners buying or building a new home on homes priced at up to $750,000.
  • There is also stamp duty relief available, which was boosted as of June 9, 2024: Queensland's first home buyer stamp duty exemption is available on properties priced up to $800,000, with a full waiver under $700k and a sliding discount between $700,001 and $800,000.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

  • The first home owner grant of $15,000 is available when you spend up to $650,000 on a brand new home or when you build your own home.
  • You'll also get a 100% stamp duty waiver on homes under $650K and a discount if you pay between $650,000 and $700,000.

TASMANIA

  • Tasmania's first home owner grant is worth a whopping $30,000. There is one big caveat, however: existing houses don't qualify, so it must be a new home (or you enter a contract to build).
  • However, Tassie has one of the least-generous stamp duty discount policies on offer for first-home buyers: 50% off on homes up to $400,000. That means you're looking at a 5-figure stamp duty bill.

CANBERRA

  • The ACT offers no first home owner grants to its residents.
  • You may be eligible for a stamp duty waiver, if the buyers earn less than $170,000 combined (a little more if you have dependent children). The value of the first home buyer concession you can receive is capped – for 2023/24, it's $34,504.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

  • The Northern Territory's $10,000 First Home Owner Grant is available to eligible applicants who purchase or construct a new home, with no value cap on the property you buy or build and no income restrictions.
  • There are also no stamp duty discounts specifically for first home buyers, but there is a stamp duty exemption in the NT for those buying a house-and-land package.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

  • A grant of $10,000 is available when buying or building a new home in WA, with some (literal) lines in the sand around eligibility.
  • Properties located south of the 26th parallel south latitude must be priced at less than $750,000 to qualify. Properties north of the 26th parallel south latitude can be valued at up to $1 million.
  • The First Home Owner Rate of Duty also provides stamp duty exemptions when purchasing homes valued at less than $530,000 and vacant land less than $400,000.

Buying your first home doesn't need to be scary. We've crafted a FREE 8-week course to help you on your way, packed with everything a new homeowner needs to know, from trying to figure out your budget to what to do on the day you pick up your keys. Sign up here.

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Personal finance expert + media spokesperson

With over 20 years of experience in property, finance and investment journalism, Sarah is a trusted expert whose insights regularly appear across television, radio, and print media, including Sunrise, ABC News, and Yahoo! Finance. She has previously served as managing editor for Your Investment Property and Australian Broker, and her expert advice has been shared over 2,500 times in 2023-2024 alone. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and a Tier 1 Generic Knowledge certification, which complies with ASIC standards. See full bio

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